Since his escape in 2005 retired nurse, Linda Dye of Clintonville has taken Shin under her wing.

Four years ago, she and her husband Lowell attended a human rights event in New York where she met Shin and casually invited him to spend Thanksgiving in Columbus.

Linda Dye says Shin eventually escaped from Camp 14 and fled to South Korea by way of China. He now lives and campaigns on behalf of other prisoners in Seoul but visits Dye and her husband in Clintonville from time to time.

Dye says after that first Thanksgiving dinner when she invited Shin to be a part of her family, his translator said he had softened and told her he was no longer an animal.